


Masks

by twtd



Series: Masquerade [1]
Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Costume Parties & Masquerades, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 23:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15873492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twtd/pseuds/twtd
Summary: Sometime before The Spelling Bee, Pippa and Hecate both attend a masquerade ball. They run into each other, but do they realize who they're spending time with?***So far, she had spent the night dancing with anyone who had gotten up the gumption to ask her and a few whom she had asked for herself, but no one had particularly caught her eye. That was the other thing she loved about Cassandra’s party: it was known for its atmosphere of generally relaxed sexual mores. They were all adults after all, and if two anonymous adults wanted to enjoy themselves after the party ended, who was around to tell them no or frown in disapproval? There was no way to prove any specific person was involved. Masks could hide a world of sins, though lust, and a bit of improvident gossip, seemed to be the only ones on offer. Still, Pippa hadn’t attracted anyone interesting that night. She had just resigned herself to going home alone when a striking woman in dusky red appeared at the edge of the crowd. She stood rigidly compared to those around her, but then everyone else at the party was well into their cups and clearly, the lassitude of drink had overtaken them.





	Masks

_Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth_

_-Oscar Wilde_

Pippa liked parties. She loved the whirl of color and the blend of voices and music that filled the air. They energized her and left her with a buzz that very little could dissipate. She particularly liked _this_ party: Cassandra Catspaw's annual masquerade ball. It was always to benefit some charity and it was always a good time. The most elite of the wizarding and witching world all attended and the glamour of the event was always over the top. This year was no exception. The theme was something alliterative about astrology that Pippa couldn't remember. She looked down at her dark grey dress and a small smile came to her lips. No one was going to recognize her in a dress attuned more to the dark pewter of moonlight than the pink of a sunrise, but she was a cancer and cancer was ruled by the moon, and so that was where she had taken her inspiration. A simple black mask covered her eyes, but a crescent mimicking the curve of a waning moon ran from her forehead to the outermost edge of her lips. She had spelled it with a nifty bit of magic that made it cast a gentle glow across her face, and she thought the entire effect quite becoming. 

So far, she had spent the night dancing with anyone who had gotten up the gumption to ask her and a few whom she had asked for herself, but no one had particularly caught her eye. That was the other thing she loved about Cassandra’s party: it was known for its atmosphere of generally relaxed sexual mores. They were all adults after all, and if two anonymous adults wanted to enjoy themselves after the party ended, who was around to tell them no or frown in disapproval? There was no way to prove any specific person was involved. Masks could hide a world of sins, though lust, and a bit of improvident gossip, seemed to be the only ones on offer. Still, Pippa hadn’t attracted anyone interesting that night. She had just resigned herself to going home alone when a striking woman in dusky red appeared at the edge of the crowd. She stood rigidly compared to those around her, but then everyone else at the party was well into their cups and clearly, the lassitude of drink had overtaken them.

Dark hair cascaded down the woman’s shoulders, the crown pulled back in an elaborate series of braids. A lustrous black mask that brought to mind an abstract scorpion crawled across her face, and her dark eyes only added to the effect. Adept as she was at reading body language, Pippa didn’t have an inkling as to who the woman was, but she wanted to know. At least for the night, she wanted to know.

***

Hecate hovered against the wall right beside the entrance to the ballroom. She had been surprised to receive an invitation to the event. She wasn't exactly the type to be included in these sorts of social circles but the Catspaws were known for collecting an eclectic group around themselves, and the book Hecate had only recently published had garnered her a small bit of notoriety in certain circles, so maybe that made her interesting enough for an invitation. Why she had agreed to come, and to eschew her usual black for dark red, was another question entirely and one she couldn't fully answer. Maybe life at Cackle's had become just a tad too routine. Maybe, after so long not fitting in, she saw it an opportunity, at least for a night, to be fully accepted. Maybe she was tired of putting on the facade of stern deputy headmistress every day and craved an opportunity in the middle of the school year to let it go, something she usually only got to do over breaks. Maybe she simply wanted to have an adult conversation with people she didn't see every day. The real answer would take far more introspection that Hecate wished to engage in. She was at the party and she would try to enjoy herself.

The dress was a more simple explanation: in this situation, it was much easier to blend in by standing out. No one would suspect Hecate Hardbroom to arrive anywhere in anything other than an admittedly finely cut black dress. She hid her identity by wearing red. She rebelled by wearing red. She, for once, indulged her vanity by wearing red. She knew exactly how it would play against her pale skin. She even left off her usual watch. Having to sneak out of Cackle's lest one of the girls see her was worth it for the way the dress made her feel. Bold. Daring. So why was she standing on the sidelines?

She grabbed a passing glass of champagne and smiled a small smile as the cool bubbles slid down her throat. 

"Best to finish that quickly, as you won't have anywhere to put it while you dance with me." Hecate looked down at the woman who had just materialized in front of her. Blonde hair, a nearly black grey dress, and an aura of mirth surrounded her. 

"You're very sure of yourself," Hecate replied but she found herself sipping her drink a bit more quickly than she normally would. Something about the woman intrigued her. 

"Don't you want to dance then?" the other woman asked in a self-assured way Hecate thought must be a regular feature of her personality. She found she did want to dance with this woman. She wanted to dance very much. Hecate passed off her still mostly full glass of champagne and held a hand out for the other woman to take. 

"I suppose one dance can't hurt." The woman took her hand and Hecate had to swallow. When was the last time she had touched someone like this? She couldn't place it. Perhaps at a conference two years previously when she'd gotten rather carried away with a Philosophy of Magic professor and ended up with her hand down the other woman's blouse. That night had ended in frustration as she had gotten called back to Cackle's for an emergency before things could take their natural course. Now, she was being pulled into a stranger's arms and finding herself quite comfortable there.

"So, do you have a name? Or at least one I can use?" the other woman asked as she pulled Hecate closer and they started dancing. Hecate took a steadying breath. She hadn't thought about an alias, but she certainly couldn't use her real name. 

"Hestia," she replied. Close enough to her own that she would remember to answer to it but hopefully removed enough that this stranger couldn't guess who she was. 

"You're far away from home for a goddess of the hearth." 

Hecate knew the insight wasn't real, but it struck her nonetheless. She _was_ far from home. She hummed in acknowledgment. 

"And yourself? What name are you going by for the night?" Hecate needed something to latch onto. 

"Why, Luna, of course," the woman said with an incline of her head to emphasize her mask. 

"Of course," Hecate murmured. Luna twirled them around and Hecate fought against dizziness. The warmth of the hand on her back soaking through her dress only made the sensation worse. She leaned a bit of her weight on Luna and happily found herself supported. 

Luna leaned into Hecate's ear. "Your dress is almost obscenely beautiful on you. Red is your color." 

Hecate shivered at the breath across her ear. She swallowed again. "Thank you, though I suspect every color is your color," Hecate returned the compliment. 

"Not quite. I look dreadful in yellow," Luna replied laughing lightly at herself. 

"Good thing you aren't a Leo then," Hecate said. "Then you'd have to dress as the sun and not the moon and we would all be diminished for it." 

Luna inhaled in surprise and with a light chuckle said, "Are you always so smooth?" 

"Never," Hecate's smile turned wry. 

"The magic of a masquerade then." Luna twirled them again and again and Hecate's head spun as she pressed ever closer. Their breasts brushed and Hecate took in a sharp breath. If the way Luna's hands tightened meant anything, it affected her just as much. Neither of them moved away. 

"That must be it," Hecate responded, willing to get swept up in the romanticism of the idea and the feel of Luna's body against hers. The way they were dancing had long since moved beyond the polite distance of acquaintances and now veered into something far from innocent. Luna's hand dipped down her back. Hecate shifted her hips against Luna's and their eyes caught. Hecate started to lower her head the scant inch needed to bring their lips together when the music stopped and the applause of the crowd startled her from the moment.

***

Damn. Pippa smiled ruefully. She had been so close to getting exactly what she wanted.

"It looks like the band is taking a break," Pippa said lightly. "And I think I owe you a glass of champagne." 

“I suppose you do,” Hestia responded. She didn’t object when Pippa took her hand and led her off of the dance floor. Pippa wound her way through the crowd to a secluded corner and deposited Hestia there in the shadow of a column. It would provide excellent cover if Pippa managed to steal the kiss she wanted. 

"Wait here and I'll get that champagne." Pippa turned to go, but Hestia caught her hand. 

"Is the wine that important to you?" Hestia asked as she used their joined hands to pull Pippa back in. 

"If it isn't important to you, then it's completely inconsequential to me," Pippa replied, encouraged by the other woman's boldness. "Was there something else--"

Hestia's lips pressed against her own and interrupted her. Heat flared low in Pippa's belly and goosebumps flushed her arms as she returned the surprise kiss. Hestia's lips felt soft against her own and Pippa sunk into the kiss. Her hands came up to frame Hestia's face and pull her in more firmly even as she used her body to push them further into the shadows. Their lipstick colored lips slid across each other and proved thoroughly distracting. Hestia bumped against the column and wrenched her lips away. 

“You’re good at that,” Pippa said after she caught her breath. 

"Unless I'm reading this completely wrong, I think you'll find I'm good at many things," Hestia responded, a crooked grin on her face. Pippa couldn't stop herself. She kissed the smile away. 

"I assume that means you won't be offended if I suggest we reconvene elsewhere?" Pippa looked up at Hestia. 

"Did you have somewhere in mind?" Hestia asked. 

"My hotel room?" Pippa responded. Goddess she wanted Hestia to say yes. 

"The masks stay on," Hestia said firmly. Pippa nodded. That was fine with Pippa. She wasn't looking for anything to last beyond the night, and she knew enough about Hestia for that. 

"The masks stay on," Pippa agreed before she transferred them to her hotel room.

***

Seconds later Luna's hotel room materialized around them. Hecate looked around but there wasn't much to see. It looked like any other of the dozens of hotel rooms she had visited over her lifetime. She wasn't there to take in the decor anyway. She looked down to where Luna stood beside her.

"This part's always a bit awkward, isn't it?" Luna asked as she smiled wryly. Standing in the middle of a hotel room waiting to see who would make the first move was awkward but Hecate didn't feel like lingering in it. 

"It doesn't have to be," she responded as she cupped Luna's face and drew her into a kiss. The kiss built and built between them as it continued. Eventually, they had to pull away from each other. 

"You're right," Luna said, "not awkward at all." She captured Hecate's lips again before her hands moved to Hecate's waist and then up her torso. Hecate shivered as Luna's hands finally reached the lower edge of her breasts before they slid around Hecate's body to find the zipper at her back. Luna looked up at Hecate for permission, and getting a small nod, she started unzipping the dress. Hecate licked against the seam of Luna's mouth and the kiss began again. Luna's hands raised goosebumps over Hecate's skin when they finally slipped under her dress. 

It seemed they were going to get more than carried away with each other that night, and this time Hecate wasn't going to get interrupted.

***

"Yes, Ada?" Hecate said softly as she stole a glance behind herself to make sure that Luna was still in the bathroom before she pulled her mask off and tilted the portable mirror toward her face.

"You know I hate to disrupt you on a night away, but I'm afraid we need you back at Cackle's. One of the girls has taken quite ill and we need your potion making skills." Ada looked contrite but firm. There was no begging off. 

"Of course." Hecate had already made the motion that would reclothe her body and transform the red dress into something more typical of her. She needed to be leaving anyway before the charm of the night wore off. As much as she had enjoyed Luna's company, it had never been intended to last. "I'll be there within the hour," she said. 

"Excellent. Thank you, Hecate," Ada said. Hecate took one last look around the room before she transferred away.

***

"...your potion making skills." Pippa stopped where she was. She had just been about to exit the bathroom when she heard the unfamiliar voice. A mirror call, most likely. She would give Hestia her privacy. Still, she couldn't quite bring herself to close the bathroom door entirely. Her curiosity would get the best of her someday.

"Of course," Hestia replied. Pippa heard her rustling about in the other room and she slid the door open just a bit wider. It would be a lie to say she didn't want to know who Hestia was without the mask on. Maybe she could catch a glimpse. The fates were in her favor. The mirrors in the room angled perfectly to give her a perfect view of Hestia's face. Once she saw it, the feeling of familiarity returned. She couldn't place how she knew the other woman, but she _did_ know her. She was just trying to put it together when she heard a voice from the mirror.

"Excellent. Thank you, Hecate." 

Pippa eyes went wide. _Hecate_. Pippa's eyes flew to the woman's face, but even before she could confirm it, she knew. The woman who just transferred away was Hecate Hardbroom. She had just spent the night with Hecate. With her Hecate. With the Hecate that had preoccupied her mind for decades. Pippa's heart flew but then immediately crashed. She had spent the night with the Hecate who had pushed her aside for no reason whatsoever. The Hecate who wanted nothing to do with her. Pippa sat hard on the edge of the bathtub. No, Hecate could never know. Pippa could never tell her. But Pippa knew she would hang onto the night for a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are the best and I'm on tumblr [@twtd](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/twtd11)


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